How Can I Get My Videos Viewed on YouTube?

How can I increase my YouTube views, asked my friend Harriet Ross, director of the Gerald Arpino Foundation. How can I encourage people to view and comment on them?

The foundation owns and leases rights to Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino Ballets. They has great content — fabulous, professional videos clips.

I assume Harriet mainly wants these videos viewed to market them to amateur and professional ballet companies. But also she’d probably like other dance lovers to appreciate and share them.

Activities to Increase YouTube Views

Specifically, I suggested that she:

Create a channel named Gerald Arpino, not a YouTube channel with her name.

Use YouTube’s auto-share feature to post ballet videos to her Gerald Arpino Facebook Page, if she is not already. (More on Facebook for business here.)

Send an update to all fans of her Gerald Arpino Facebook page every time she uploads a video. In that update, ask them to share it with their ballet-loving friends.

Using Facebook’s friend list feature, create groups of personal friends who like ballet and are not a fan of the Arpino page. Send a group email to them sharing each video she publishes.

Use her email list of contacts from all professional and amateur ballet companies. Consider sending a quarterly email update with ballets available to them. Include a hyperlink to a different sample video in each email.

Ask for permission to add a link to her channel in regular emails or e-newsletters to Joffrey ballet students.

Add to her email signature a link to her YouTube channel below her foundation. She could even modify it occasionally to draw attention to her latest video — something like:
“Gerald Arpino YouTube Channel. Just uploaded: the pas de deux from Kettentanz.”

She might join and become active in social networks devoted to dance, commenting on videos of others and sharing her links. Maybe this one? http://dancetech.ning.com/

Do a search on “modern dance” (or maybe “ballet” ) on YouTube. Look for other dance channels. Watch their clips and post comments. Subscribe to their channels. Subscribing and commenting on the videos of others often means that they come back and comment on or subscribe to yours.

She might create a Google Alert for “Gerald Arpino.” Whenever there is a post on a blog mentioning his name, make a helpful comment with a link to her YouTube channel and Facebook fan page.

She might also consider buying YouTube ads if her organization can afford it.

She could set up a Twitter account and use it to network and promote. Here is a sample of “modern dance” lovers on Twitter.

Your Advice?

What advice do you have for Harriet to promote her videos? How can you translate this advice to your business?